We have been very lucky to meet some wonderful new friends in Tahiti. Yesterday, our friend Magali took us to the east side of the island to experience some authentic Tahitian food (amazing!) and a volcanic beach. The best way to experience a place and get immersed in its culture is through the local people and we are so grateful to Magali for showing us around yesterday and introducing us to even more local friends. This level of inclusiveness and generosity makes the world a better place. In one day, Jack and Ellie learned more through this experience than any classroom or lecture or documentary could teach them. This is the power of travel, especially with kids and young people. ...

We circumnavigated Tahiti via a rental car yesterday. The island is incredibly lush with mountainscapes covered by thick jungle and waterfalls cascading down vertical faces like something out of the movie “Avatar.” Even the white birds circling high above the waterfalls look prehistoric and otherworldly with their long, thin tails. ...

About our new home: "Hanavave" is a 2002 Catamaran Athena 38 Fountaine Pajot. Hanavave is the name of a very picturesque bay in the Marquesas, an island group located in French Polynesia, northeast of Tahiti. We bought Hanavave from Frank, a German man who had sailed her from Germany to Tahiti with the goal of reaching Australia, but his voyage got cut short by COVID and its subsequent travel restrictions and port closures. Prior to that, Hanavave was a charter boat in Croatia for 15 years.

We bought the boat remotely, sight unseen, which means that there were a few surprises that Grant and Jack uncovered upon their arrival. Because Frank had been stuck in Tahiti for quite a while, there was a lot of deferred maintenance on the boat.

Grant has repaired or replaced a very long list of things.

We've also removed many dinghy loads of excess gear and items that we will not need and have cleaned the boat thoroughly, both inside and out.

Hanavave has 4 double cabins and 2 heads with showers. She is powered by solar and wind and has 2 180-liter water tanks. This makes for a lifestyle that has to be very conscious of power and water usage: we "shower" by swimming in the ocean on most days and about once a week we shower on shore in the marina facilities. We wash our dishes in the ocean, we re-wear our clothes and wash them in the marina laundromat, and have to make sure we don't use too much electricity on sunless or windless days. There is no airconditioning or a freezer on the boat and we also have to be very mindful of the amount of trash we produce.

While they are a big adjustment, we welcome these challenges as we acknowledge that our usual way of living contributes greatly to the green house effect and we want to gain a better understanding around our energy consumption and pollution output in order to live more sustainably going forward. ...

Moorea was spectacular. We snorkeled and saw amazing things and got escorted out by a couple of very friendly dolphins. ...

Our first test sail. We set off from Tahiti to Makatea, but because of changing winds we changed course and spent the night in Moorea. We woke up in paradise! This is a great opportunity to work out the kinks before we haul the boat out of the water on Thursday and Friday to clean and paint before we set off for Bora Bora at the end of the week. ...

Yesterday was the first day of the next part of our adventure. We have moved to our new home, “Hanavave,” a 38-foot Fountaine Pajot catamaran, currently in Tahiti. We will spend the next several months sailing through beautiful French Polynesia and the South Pacific to Australia.

Fittingly, our first day back together after a week was Father’s Day. While Thelma the bus was my idea, Hanavave the catamaran is Grant’s. As always, Jack and Stellie were fully involved in 100% of the decision making and couldn’t be more excited to set sail in the next couple of weeks. We continue to be endlessly grateful for our Captain Grant, and this time together. ...

Seattle Marine Aquarium & Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA. ...